Community Connections

Best-Practices Discovery

Thinking differently about healthcare, the Transform symposium sponsored by the Center for Innovation is designed to provide an inspiring setting for leaps in health care from collaborative discussions and the sharing of insights from across disciplines.

Olmsted Medical Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester Family Medicine Clinic, and other medical care providers in Olmsted County, MN, work together in the Rochester Epidemiolgy Project(REP) and share their medical records with researchers to better understand the causes and outcomes of different illnesses and to improve the health and health care of the entire county. The REP has laid the foundation for hundreds of research studies to try and answer questions about health care issues that affect our community. This collaboration and sharing of medical information makes us one of the few places in the United States, and one of the few places in the world, where “population-based” research can be accomplished.

The goal of Advancing the Science is to provide a virtual home for the extensive community interested in Mayo Clinic medical science and how it impacts treatments worldwide.

The Knowledge and Evaluation Research (KER) Unit is a laboratory focused on translating the best available research evidence into clinical practice through evidence synthesis and through enhancements in the patient-clinician encounter.

Healthy Living Rochester is a group of community partners working together to promote healthy living in a positive and upbeat way. Groups involved include CardioVision 2020, the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, Olmsted County Public Health Services, Rochester Olmsted Planning, Rochester Public Works and the MLT Group. Funding was provided by a grant from Stratis Health.

Improvements in Clinical Quality

Public Health Services provides a broad range of services to individuals, families and communities to promote and protect the health of those who live and work in our community.

Asthma

The Beacon project intends to expand the asthma action plan program in the 11-county region and leverage standards-based health information exchange (HIE) to increase reporting completeness and accuracy, as well as to disseminate asthma action plans that are collaboratively developed for a child. This extension includes processes of care coordination with providers, public health and school nurses. Watch an Overview of Beacon Asthma Initiative by Barbara Yawn, M.D., Olmsted Medical Center.

With the help of the Mayo Clinic, Olmsted Medical, public school nurses, parents and the county health department, Olmsted County is creating a new model to care for asthmatic children. Watch the ABC “Cutting Edge Medicine” news feature on treating asthma in Olmsted County.

Primary care physicians have identified several barriers to implementation of asthma guidelines including confusion regarding severity scoring that is the basis for treatment, monitoring and follow-up decisions. The Asthma APGAR research study led by Olmsted Medical collaborates with rural PBRN physicians using participatory action research to modify and validate the asthma Apgar developed by the principal investigator.

Diabetes

Where treatment plans are known in our delivery systems, adherence to a Diabetes Care Plan consistently improves. We well understand that there may be complex and numerous reasons for lack of adherence. Using technology within the Beacon project to facilitate improved clinical work flows should make it easier for us to deploy diabetes treatment plans to all patients, and to all providers, and to identify patients with difficulties in their care sooner.Watch an Overview of Beacon Diabetes Initiative by Victor Montori, M.D., Mayo Clinic endocrinologist.

Minnesota Partnership Announces Ambitious Goal: Optimally Treat, Ultimately Cure Diabetes. Building on the University of Minnesota’s and Mayo Clinic’s well-established strengths in diabetes research and treatment, the initiative will work to make transformational discoveries to defeat diabetes through research, broad penetration of best practices, treatment, intervention and prevention.

Under the KER Unit, the Wiser Choices Program develops and tests patient-centered and evidence-based decision aids in clinical practice. These tools help clinicians convey information consistent with the best available evidence designed in a way to combine with the values and preferences of the informed patient. Watch the use of the Diabetes Medication Choice in a typical patient with type 2 diabetes.

Winona Health will offer its Diabetes Prevention Series, a four-week program beginning Tuesday, February 1. The program meets for four consecutive Tuesday evenings, through February 22, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the 2nd floor conference room at Winona Clinic, 859 Mankato Avenue in Winona.

Health Information Technology

In April, 2011, five innovative leading health systems, each pioneers in the use of electronic medical records for their patients, joined together to announce a new initiative to securely exchange electronic health data. The Care Connectivity Consortium aims to demonstrate the benefits of effective and timely health information exchange by providing doctors with access to their patients’ health information to make informed real time clinical decisions at the point of care.

Winona Health is among only about 5% of healthcare organizations in the country to have implemented technological advances that include providing patients with an integrated medical record. PBS NewsHour health covers the story of how and why healthcare providers in Winona have collaborated to use health information technologyto streamline processes, improve healthcare quality and safety and to improve the health and well-being of the community.

Winona Health hospital has been named on the nation’s Most Wired-Small and Rural Hospital list in the Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. This is the eighth consecutive year Winona Health hospital has been recognized as a Most Wired hospital. Winona Health won the award for “using technology to improve quality, satisfaction and patient care.” More >>

The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, a first-of-its-kind social media center focused on health care, builds on Mayo Clinic’s leadership among health care providers in adopting social media tools.

The Southeast Minnesota Transformation Community Contract is a collaboration of Human Services Directors from 12 counties and other leaders in southeastern Minnesota are in the process of developing a clear vision for the future of the publicly funded human services system in our region. The goal of the new contract is to lead to better spending and greater return on taxpayer investement (ROTI) that will “save money” via less duplication, more sharing, improved technology, and practice benefits.

Quality & Safety

The 2011 Quality Academy Conference “Creating and Paying for Value in Health Care” will mark the 15th year of this conference, and the first year for the conference to be external and marketed nationally. The annual Mayo Clinic Conference on Quality serves as an event to share among colleagues, stories and examples of improvements in patient safety, patient and employee satisfaction, improved effectiveness and efficiency.